Mother of Baby Doe sentenced to time served, probation

BOSTON (AP) — The mother of a 2-year-old girl who became known as Baby Doe after her remains washed ashore in a trash bag will be released from jail after serving less than two years for her role in disposing of her daughter's body.

Under the sentence imposed Wednesday, Rachelle Bond is expected to be released from jail Friday and go directly to a residential substance abuse treatment facility.

Bond, 41, pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors to a charge of being an accessory after the fact in the 2015 killing of her daughter, Bella.

Last month, Bond's ex-boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in Bella's killing.

As part of her plea agreement, Bond testified against McCarthy at his trial, telling jurors she walked into a bedroom and saw McCarthy punching her daughter hard in the abdomen. She said she did not report her daughter's death to police because McCarthy threatened to kill her.

Bella Bond's remains were found in a plastic bag that washed up on Deer Island in Boston Harbor in June 2015. As authorities scrambled to identify her, she was dubbed Baby Doe. A computer-generated image of the brown-eyed, chubby-cheeked girl was shared by millions on social media as police worked to solve the mystery of who she was.

Three months later, both Bond and McCarthy were arrested after Bond told a friend that McCarthy had killed her daughter.

McCarthy's lawyer spent days aggressively cross-examining Bond and told the jury she was the real killer.

After Bond was sentenced, Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley defended the plea agreement, saying he would not have been able to prosecute McCarthy without making a deal with Bond. Conley said there's no evidence Bond played a direct role in her daughter's death.

Bond's attorney, Janice Bassil, said Bond, a recovering heroin user, will head directly from jail to a drug rehabilitation facility.